November, on the Internet, is affectionately known by writers who hate themselves as NaNoWriMo: National Novel-Writing Month. By those of us who hate ourselves less, it’s NaBloPoMo: National Blog-Posting Month. In honor of this, I’m not going to update every day – that’s impossible, and I’d run out of things to say – but I will get up to date. I am shamefully, pathetically behind, and I’m going to fix that.
So, here’s the story of our first visit to the Eiffel Tower (lasted only as long as it took to see the line) and Techno Parade.
I love this shot. It’s very standard, but I love the colors and how they combine. Apparently, when it was first constructed, the Eiffel Tower was brick red. When we were told this bit of trivia, one of our group misunderstood and thought it was made out of brick, wondering aloud about structural integrity and how in the world they’d done that. Answer: they didn’t.
9 Eiffel Tower
This is the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, and said line. This is also why, contrary to popular opinion, “under the Eiffel Tower” is not a romantic spot. On top of, sure: there’s even a very expensive restaurant with a famous chef. But not at the bottom. There, it's more like a spacious prison, with the concrete floor and iron bars and crowds.
I just liked the angle.
This is Julia, me, and Emma in front of the tower. (Not my photo; saved off of Facebook.) The stars are because Sarkozy is the nominal head of the EU. We’ve had quite a few discussions of what exactly that means, but I’m still not quite clear. I just know they look like cheap cardboard.
Me, Megan, and Emma on the terrace at the Place Trocadero. (Also not my photo. Megan wanted a picture in front of the Tower and also wanted proof that she had friends.) Before us, in this spot, was a gothy teenage girl getting that “look I’m flying” shot by jumping off that wall. While I’ve always kind of wanted a picture like that, she looked like such an idiot doing it that I didn’t want to anymore.
After that, we headed over to where the newspaper said the Techno Parade would be passing. We got off the metro right into the crowd; it was insane, utterly unlike any parade I’ve ever been to. It wasn’t even – it was more a mobile discotheque.
These guys are sitting on top of a bus shelter. Later, there’d be more people, and they’d be dancing.
This is the first float – it came around the corner painfully slowly, pushing slowly through the crowds. There were men in front of it, holding out a rope that was tied to the sides of the truck, preventing people from getting close enough in front to get run over. This was one of our favorites, because the girls kind of look like hookers but also like they’re having fun, and also it was shooting confetti out of that funnel in front of the first dancing platform.
Confetti!
The girl in front in the neon looks like she’s really enjoying this. The outfits in the whole parade were INSANE. Wait’ll you see the later ones. We couldn’t help wondering, though: how do you get to be on one of the floats? I suspect you have to work for the club sponsoring it, but there were a LOT of young people on them, so I don’t know.
Bunny ears…
…and matching I <3 NY shirts.
I’m not sure what the point of this costume was, but it amused me greatly.
Not as much as this guy, though. Another thing that reminds me of Doctor Who. I’m such a nerd.
On the other hand, HE’S the one wearing a pointless gas mask and leaning upside-down off the side of a float in a Techno Parade. I’m not sure I have anything to worry about. I think I’d like to have met this guy, though.
Everyone in the crowd was jumping and dancing and going insane. It was utterly marvelous.
I leave you with the video I took while that float was parked in front of us. The sound quality is horrible, and my hands aren’t very steady, but you get the idea.
Biarritz, hopefully Thursday! Maybe Friday, if it takes too long to write, but still!
So, here’s the story of our first visit to the Eiffel Tower (lasted only as long as it took to see the line) and Techno Parade.
I love this shot. It’s very standard, but I love the colors and how they combine. Apparently, when it was first constructed, the Eiffel Tower was brick red. When we were told this bit of trivia, one of our group misunderstood and thought it was made out of brick, wondering aloud about structural integrity and how in the world they’d done that. Answer: they didn’t.
9 Eiffel Tower
This is the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, and said line. This is also why, contrary to popular opinion, “under the Eiffel Tower” is not a romantic spot. On top of, sure: there’s even a very expensive restaurant with a famous chef. But not at the bottom. There, it's more like a spacious prison, with the concrete floor and iron bars and crowds.
I just liked the angle.
This is Julia, me, and Emma in front of the tower. (Not my photo; saved off of Facebook.) The stars are because Sarkozy is the nominal head of the EU. We’ve had quite a few discussions of what exactly that means, but I’m still not quite clear. I just know they look like cheap cardboard.
Me, Megan, and Emma on the terrace at the Place Trocadero. (Also not my photo. Megan wanted a picture in front of the Tower and also wanted proof that she had friends.) Before us, in this spot, was a gothy teenage girl getting that “look I’m flying” shot by jumping off that wall. While I’ve always kind of wanted a picture like that, she looked like such an idiot doing it that I didn’t want to anymore.
After that, we headed over to where the newspaper said the Techno Parade would be passing. We got off the metro right into the crowd; it was insane, utterly unlike any parade I’ve ever been to. It wasn’t even – it was more a mobile discotheque.
These guys are sitting on top of a bus shelter. Later, there’d be more people, and they’d be dancing.
This is the first float – it came around the corner painfully slowly, pushing slowly through the crowds. There were men in front of it, holding out a rope that was tied to the sides of the truck, preventing people from getting close enough in front to get run over. This was one of our favorites, because the girls kind of look like hookers but also like they’re having fun, and also it was shooting confetti out of that funnel in front of the first dancing platform.
Confetti!
The girl in front in the neon looks like she’s really enjoying this. The outfits in the whole parade were INSANE. Wait’ll you see the later ones. We couldn’t help wondering, though: how do you get to be on one of the floats? I suspect you have to work for the club sponsoring it, but there were a LOT of young people on them, so I don’t know.
Bunny ears…
…and matching I <3 NY shirts.
I love how this all took place around this very dignified statue of something-that-it-was-too-crowded-for-me-to-find-out-what-it-was. Very European.
The crowd following one of the floats. As they came by, people would pour out into the groups behind them, following their favorites, to afterparties or even just till they got bored.
Most of the signs on the floats were in English. I’d like to say “bad English”, but sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear this phrase spoken by Americans. It’s a little awkward, but not unusual. Most of the songs were in English, too, though a few were German.
The speaker display on the back of a float.
People were really into this. There was also a LOT of public drunkenness – we saw a girl who looked about 14 dragging her friends down the street carrying an open vodka bottle in one hand. (The legal age here is 16 for fermented alcohol and 18 for distilled, though I don’t think there are really rules forbidding open containers of alcohol on public property, unlike in Providence.)
This was our favorite DJ. She was the first woman we’d seen, which was cool, and she was wearing a skirt, which was BRAVE. She was also playing our favorite of the music we’d heard.
It definitely helped that there was a sax player accompanying the techno. It sounds like a weird combination, but it was absolutely fantastic and worked perfectly. This video will give you a taste of what it sounds like, even if it’s not very good. The techno was significantly louder in person.
This guy was amazing. The other half of his face is painted white. This was not unusual.
This is awesome. They REALLY wanted to see the next float coming, I guess.
Hahahaha. The first of the awesome costumes ON the floats: a weird robot thing.
A full view of a float, so you can get an idea of what they looked like.
SpongeBob balloons. There were LOTS of things like this, aimed at small children (we think it’s connected to Ecstasy?)…
…and a disturbing number of ACTUAL small children.
The costumes continue! Evil Android and his pole dancer, apparently.
Techno hippies?
The float with the funny spinning wheels of light. Pretty cool, actually.
This float would be the last one we saw: it was stuck in front of us for about 10 minutes, until the hilarity and amazingness wore off and we all got headaches.
This guy was amazing. The other half of his face is painted white. This was not unusual.
This is awesome. They REALLY wanted to see the next float coming, I guess.
Hahahaha. The first of the awesome costumes ON the floats: a weird robot thing.
A full view of a float, so you can get an idea of what they looked like.
SpongeBob balloons. There were LOTS of things like this, aimed at small children (we think it’s connected to Ecstasy?)…
…and a disturbing number of ACTUAL small children.
The costumes continue! Evil Android and his pole dancer, apparently.
Techno hippies?
The float with the funny spinning wheels of light. Pretty cool, actually.
This float would be the last one we saw: it was stuck in front of us for about 10 minutes, until the hilarity and amazingness wore off and we all got headaches.
I’m not sure what the point of this costume was, but it amused me greatly.
Not as much as this guy, though. Another thing that reminds me of Doctor Who. I’m such a nerd.
On the other hand, HE’S the one wearing a pointless gas mask and leaning upside-down off the side of a float in a Techno Parade. I’m not sure I have anything to worry about. I think I’d like to have met this guy, though.
Everyone in the crowd was jumping and dancing and going insane. It was utterly marvelous.
I leave you with the video I took while that float was parked in front of us. The sound quality is horrible, and my hands aren’t very steady, but you get the idea.
Biarritz, hopefully Thursday! Maybe Friday, if it takes too long to write, but still!
(PS: FAIL, blogger. UTTER, EPIC FAIL. It took me TWO HOURS to put the photos in and post this entry, partly because I had to do it twice and partly because it just takes forever. Also, it kept messing with my formatting. If this looks anything like I want it to look, it'll be a miracle.)
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